Skip to main content

KEEP UP PRESSURE ON CORRUPTION


There has been a flurry of activity surrounding corruption in recent weeks, with a few public officials caught red handed taking bribes.

The public deprived of services because of a few greedy individuals are understandably gleeful. 

However they are also those who are a bit sceptical, wondering whether this campaign will last or will peter out along the way.

It is heartening to see that President Yoweri Museveni has put his full weight behind the latest attempt and provides a positive signal to all parties concerned. He should be supported by every well-meaning Ugandan so that this drive does not fizzle out in a few weeks.

I choose to be optimistic about this anti-corruption drive, because rolling back the endemic that corruption has become, is one of the first steps we need to take towards attaining middle income status as a nation and for any other meaningful development we hope to see in the future.

We see it in our daily lives.

Beyond the morality of not taking what is not yours, corruption has wide reaching negative effects not only for the economy but for our individual advancement.

At the most basic level corruption concentrates resources in a few hands. A billion shillings stolen from the state coffers or extorted from an investor, is money that would have built several classroom blocks or treated patients at our public hospitals or graded a few roads. It would have not only improved the standard of living of hundreds or even thousands of Ugandans, but would also give them a chance to climb up the social ladder by providing a better education or underwrote a healthier life or created access to markets for goods and services.

Secondly, the corrupt in an attempt to launder their money buy assets such as land and buildings or go into business. That would not be a bad thing and may even be beneficial to the economy through increased economic activity, job creation and maybe even increased tax collection. But because the corrupt do not have to factor in the cost of money in their business plans, they distort the market for everyone, squeezing the genuine businessmen out and often times damaging the market irreparably as they also collapse for lack of business acumen.

But corruption has an even deadlier impact on society. If it thrives it provides the wrong incentives to the young and impressionable. It destroys the argument for hard and diligent work as the way to achieve wealth that is durable and sustainable. Why slog hours at a desk, spend years climbing up the corporate ladder or even take the risks and work tirelessly to build a durable business?

Our youth are being seduced by the fast life attained even faster, realising too late that the old fashioned virtues of honesty, thrift and good reputation are what one should aim for rather than making a quick buck.

This last point is particularly worrying. Because if we do not reconfigure our society’s incentives, corruption far from being the new normal will be the only way to do anything, making our economy unattractive to investors and development partners – local or foreign dooming our nation to mediocrity and hopelessness for years to come

A few years ago it was estimated that up to sh500b annually goes missing from state coffers. This figure has probably grown since it was first mooted, but for an economy like ours that is a lot of money and missed opportunity to uplift the living standards of thousands of Ugandans.

According to next financial year’s Budget Framework Paper, government has earmarked just over a hundred billion shillings for maintenance of roads around the country. If a road is tarmarced or even just graded and made all weather, it unlocks the economic potential of whole areas. The farmers can produce more because the trucks can get closer to their fields, the transporters save money in wear and tear costs from driving on smoother roads, the end consumer gets goods at better prices because of increased competition from numerous suppliers.

It would not be a stretch to say that for every shilling used on roads, a few more shillings in additional economic activity for an area’s population is the result.

But when a handful of people eat this money, the net effect is minimal for the society at large – they may buy houses, distribute some charity but are most likely than not going to book a holiday abroad.
That the fight against corruption is critical and urgent cannot be overstated. The benefits of a reduction in corruption will be immediate and far reaching. This anti-corruption drive must succeed.

(APRIL 2017)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SPORTS AS AN ANALOGY FOR BUSINESS

Like everybody else I know, my spirit was lifted by the success of our athletes at the World Athletics Championships last week. The diminutive Halima Nakaayi showed the heart of a lion, sprinting over the last 100m of the women’s 800m event to snatch victory from a more favoured American runner. It was so uplifting to watch. Subsequent stories about the challenges she has had to overcome to get where she is now were testament to the determination of the woman. Joshua Cheptegei’s victory, while no less inspiring, had a different quality to it. Cheptegei was the man to watch going into the event. He won previously at the Commonwealth Games last year and the in the just concluded Golden League. He was a silver medalist in the 10,000m at the last World Championships in London, pipped to the tape by the now retired Mo Farah. Cheptgei still had to battle the Kenyans and the Ethiopians all the way. But as a favourite he lived up to expectations, which sometimes is more diffic...
Post a Comment
Read more

WE NEED FASTER TURN AROUND ON OUR ROAD PROJECTS

During a recent trip to China I was shocked to find properly paved roads and first class infrastructure deep in the countryside, hundreds of kilometres away from the capital, Beijing. I rode the high-speed railway out of Beijing, doing more than 300 kilometres per hour and I can attest I have never been on anything like it anywhere in the world. Not in Europe. Not in the States. Nowhere. I was blown away and wondered why we can’t at least do a tenth of this at home. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when I used the Entebbe Expressway from the airport. I was in Kampala in under an hour. The Entebbe road had become a nightmare. I was shaken out of my good feeling when I had to make a trip to Tororo the other day. On my way back I spent two and half hours between Mukono and Kampala, about the same time it took me from Tororo up to Mukono. Clearly there is a lot of work to be done on our transport infrastructure. The full extent we probably don’t appreciate,...
Post a Comment
Read more

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION, ITS NOW TIME TO WORK….

Thousands of students will be graduating from their respective universities in coming days and months. Makerere, our country’s oldest university will kick off its ceremonies on January 15th and the other universities will follow. The graduates have already had a taste of the real life, having finished their studies mid last year and tried to get employed. Many know by now that the world can be harsh and unforgiving. I hope many are tightening their belts in readiness for the struggle ahead. Some may have decided to kick the tin down the road by continuing with school. And others may have given up altogether. My prayer is that there are more of the first and less of the last kind. In talking to young people, I find that what is needed is a reorientation of their minds – a mindset change. Let me share with you certain facts to help manage their expectations of the world and how they can fulfil their potential in our context. First of all, the world owes you ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ARE WE HELPLESS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE CARNAGE ON OUR ROADS?

Recently there was a horrific crash between a passenger bus and sand laden Isuzu truck on the Masaka-Kampala highway. To look at the pictures of the aftermath it is a miracle that only two were killed and 20 injured in the accident, which it is reported was a head-on collision between the two vehicles. We don’t go a week without news of a major accident on our trunk roads. I suspect that a combination of poorly maintained vehicles, improperly trained or inexperienced drivers, driving at break neck speeds are to blame. "A few months ago, there was a suggestion that the new paved roads were not properly designed and therefore causing the accidents, but I think that is a case of poor workmen blaming their tools.... If one was to buy this argument, what about the argument that we had fewer accidents when our roads were pot holed and it would take whole days travelling journeys that now take a few hours? So, we should we go back to our potholed roads? "Accord...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE KEYS TO OUR HEALTH ARE WITHIN OUR REACH

I prefer to speak about business. But it is obvious to me as it should be to everybody, that the fruits of business can’t be enjoyed without good health. As we progress in age we need to take care of our health more than before, focus on prevention because our bodies can no longer bounce back from illness as fast as they used to. The other day I happened upon a Facebook video from Dr Luke Coutinho, an Indian doctor who treats cancer patients. He made a wonderful video that moved me -- “Four things people with cancer have in common.” Look it up. Coutinho, in the video said that when he looked at the data from hundreds of patients, from all over the world, that had been treated at his facility he found four commonalities. The first one he said was chronic constipation. He explained that constipation, infrequent bowel movement, means the body is retaining toxins that should not be there. These toxins then find their way back into our bodies and provide the environment fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

UMEME A RECOGNISED SUCCESS BUT …

  Recently the World Bank did a survey of the power utilities on the continent. Of the 39 utilities surveyed only two, in Uganda – Umeme and in Seychelles, were able to cover their operating costs and capital expenditures – maintenance and expansion of the grid. The report went on to point out that only 19 or about half of the surveyed utilities were able to meet their everyday costs like salaries. Essentially most of our power utilities on the continent are technically bankrupt. This has far reaching ramifications for the industry as a whole. When you, the client, pays your bill, Umeme then passes money up the line to pay the transmission and generation companies. If Umeme does not collect the revenues due to it or does not price the power at an appropriate rate, the pain will be felt up and down the sector. The transmission company would not be able to maintain and extend its network and the generation company would not be able to generate efficiently or build ...
Post a Comment
Read more

NOT ONLY THE HARDWARE BUT THE SOFTWARE TOO

In the middle of September the United Nations released its annual Human Development Indicator (HDI). This index serves as an indicator of the quality of life of a country’s people by measuring the health, education, inequality, poverty and security standards. Aside from the statistical measures of development like GDP growth, this is obviously a better measure of how people are actually doing. In this year’s HDI report Uganda was ranked 162 out of 189 countries with a HDI score of 0.516. The index goes from zero to one, the nearer you are to one the better. Our score puts us in the low human development category. But as bad as that sounds we have been worse. In 1990, the earliest year that these figures were compiled our score was 0.311 even the UN recognises that we have improved 66 percent in the last three decades. According to the UN figures life expectancy has risen to 60.2 years   from 45.5 in 1990; expected years of schooling has doubled to 11.6 fr...
Post a Comment
Read more